Metal grille or grille fabric



Jan. 22, 1935. REEN METAL GRILLE on GR ILLE FA Filed May 11, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 i.| Il 'T u L 7 z 3 1T 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 UUUj j E I z I 4F: I I I UU i j I] j 1] 11111111 1 13 w I T 31137: FLFELE EFI: F: I;

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UUUUUr E F L L [EEEEEEE L Jan. 22, 1935. B, GREEN METAL GRILLE OR YGRILLE FABRIC Filed May 11, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor:

Lee 3, 4260 Afforngy.

Jan. 22, 1935. B, GREEN METAL GRILLE OR GRILLE FABRIC Filed May 11, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Jan. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES 1 ie-m oFFm llvly i invention relates to the type of grille which has-the general frontal appearance of a screen formed of perforated metal, and in its general, objects aims to enhance the extent to 5 which sucha grille conceals what is behind it,

tofincrease the rigidity of the grille, to permit an amplyrigid grille of these characteristics to be easily and cheaply made of thin sheet metal, and to permit-'a bright ,finish to be used on the frontalportion while using a cheaper finish on the more rearwardparts. u I 4 More particularly, my invention aims to provide a grille which will combine the frontal appearance of a screen having harmoniously aroffla grille composed of parallel blades. It also aims to provide a grille construction of the above} recited "characteristics which will permit the widths "of the spacings between the sizes and shapes of the grille apertures,the spacings between rows of'apertures', and the directions in which such'row's' extend to be varied so as to modify the irontal appearance of the grillef Moreover," my invention aims to provide a grille of the above recited advantages which can readily be manufactured for affording eithera flat front effect, el -remnant; or a bowed front; and to provide simple and ineiipensive means for stiffening 'the front memberagainst bending and'for holding the blades rigid with respect'tothefront member.

In addition," my invention aims'to provide a grille of the above type in which'certain'oi the bar-like portions which extend between rows of perforations can readilybe ornamented time,

attaching of mouldings, forenhancmgmetina mental appearance of thegrille;

In "general, I accomplish the objects of my in Then, if additional ornamentation is desired, I"

alsoprov'ide my sheet metal grille front member'withintegra'l fingers for holding the needed mo'uldin'gsf'in their desired positions.

Illustrative of my invention, Fig. 1' is a squarely frontal viewlof a portion of a fiatfronted grille enibodying' my invention, in which separately formed blades are gripped between rangedperforations with the concealing effect 1 another forrn ofjmy grille; namely. one: in. which 'w'e'bsflproject rearwardly onlyalong oneside 'edge' either for the entire frontmem'ber, or for .a cer'--" ortions of this moulding broken away'to sho U 'the"fingerswhichjhold the moulding in. posit 'n.

clip. fingers formed elem the grille-front member.

die 2 is a en nd a 1 LP P tiye viewof thesame'grille, looking somewhat upward. I

Fig.3 is anagihe tof Fig.2, showing the j I blade-gripping (flanges as bent only par-tl'y rearward during the constructing of the grille,

Fig. 4 isjan' enlarged section taken alongth n 4+4 of Fig. 1 i .Fig; .5 is an enlarged and fragmentary side elevation, taken from the line 5-5 ofIFigIILf Fig. 6 is arear perspective view'of abortion of the same grille, drawn on a some intermediate that, or Figsl ands; I t; ,1

'Fig'. 7' isfa horizontal ,S ctlO 1, 1a1lied 1130' Fig.' 4, showing .the central fportionlof'a grille of thesame general gconstruction as that-shown in" Figs. 1, ,Z'ahd'fd, tut ar ordmg ivgmrlt g Figs. 8 td 1 2;inclus"ive; ar sections" allied Ltoia} 20 portion of Figgi l'fs'howing blades "of diffiering cross=sectionsandlthe corresponding "shapes ,of thebladeggrippingwebs whichcare formed. out of the frontal sheet toj provide'the air admitting apertures." l25 Fig. 13 is aifragmentary perspective, allied tojFig. 2, showing the grille-frontmernberjas formed to present rearwarclly' projecting webs of greater widthithan those 'of Fig; 2, so that these webs in" themselves serve as portions "of grilleblades.v j v V V H Figgl k'isan enlarged'perspective View oia portion'of the tie-bar shown in Figsigl and 6.1

,Fig. 15 is a fragmentary perspective view of of each aperture in the grille-front membeniand in which eachblade is attached 'flatwiseto a" row ofsuchwebsf. I I j ,1

Fig. 1'6 '"isfa fragmentary front elevationfof an ornamentediforrnpfthejgrille of Figs, lf oq l, inclusive, namfily' one in which anornamenting bead orfmouldingfis attached to the grille front ,"i and 'eigtendsfbetween rows of perforations, with? Fig; is'an ged section takenrjalong the 7 .Q E g. 16 V Figiffllfisfafragmentary'front view of V O bodirnentof l my invention in'which the ,perfora tions in thew-frontal sheet are mainly 'shape'd'i as a e a J Fig. 1915' a fragmentary ,r bnt view, allied to a portionofTFi'gi I"but"showing n arrangement 5 of the apertures affording a more ornamental appearance.

Fig. 20 is a diagrammatic front elevation of a grille portion showing another ornamental arrangement of the apertures.

In making the flat-fronted and upright-bladed grille of which portions are shown in Figs. 1 and 3, I form the needed air-admitting apertures 1 in a sheet of steel or the like by punching operations which include a shearing of the sheet both along upright center line 3 (Fig. 3) and along the upper and lower edges of each proposed aperture, and a rearward bending of each of the thus formed wings or webs 4 about the side edges of the proposed perforations.

To obtain a maximum total area of the aperture for the entrance of air, I preferably space the most of the consecutive perforations in each horizontal row so that the clear spacing between the webs 4 at the adjacent sides of each two consecutive perforations equals the thickness of one of the blades B of the grille. I also desirably plan the punching so as to have the perforations aline also in vertical rows, and so as to space most of the horizontal rows of perforations consecutively by as short distances as due allowance for strength will permit; for example by a distance 5 (Fig. 2) equal to the said horizontal spacing 6, although the spacings between certain adjacent horizontal rows may be increased (as at 7 in Figs. 1 and 2) to add to the appearance of the grille.

With the front member of my grille thus constructed, the more closely adjacent webs (such as 4a and 4b in Fig. 4) form halves of the metal which was punched rearward to afford two horizontally adjacent apertures. Each two such webs, extending rearwardly from one of the barlike grille front portions F between two upright rows of perforations then cooperate to afford a clip, and these clips aline vertically; so that a blade B can readily be slid into each row of clips from the rear of the front member and hard-soldered (as at S in Fig. 2' or Fig. 5) to a few clip webs of that row.

If some of the upright bar-like front portions, from the edges of which such webs extend rearwardly, are wider than most of these bar-like front portions, as shown at F in Figs. 2 and 4, each two blade-gripping webs can readily be bent back for more than degrees (as shown at 40 in Figs. 2 and 4) so as still to grip the interposed blade B adequately.

To stiffen the grille front'which may be of quite thin sheet metaL'as forv example 2 inch- I preferably provide each blade with a slot 8 extending forwardly into it for half'the width of the blade (as shown in Fig. 5) opposite one or more of the horizontal bar-like portions F between adjacent horizontal rows of apertures,'and preferably between certain portions F (Figs. l, 4 or 5) which are wider than the horizontal barlike portions F in the major portion of the grille. Then, after the blades have been attached as above described to the front member, I slidably interlock the blades with one or more tie-bars J (Figs. 4, 6 and 15).

Each such tie-bar or cross-bar may be a simple strip of metal of the same width as the blades, this strip having slots 10 extending into it from its forward edge for half the width of the blade, as shown in Fig. 14. Witheach 'of the slots 10 of a width corresponding tothe uniform thickness of the blades, and with the slots spaced to match the spacing of the blades, the tie-bar readily interlocks with the blades after the manner of assembling the partitioning members in an ordinary egg carton, and each tie-bar can then be fastened at a few points to the front member by hard solder, as at S in Fig. 6. Since even widely spaced tie-bars, when thus interlocked with the blades and fastened to the front member, prevent the blade-supporting webs 4 from flexing about their junctures with the front portion of that member, I obtain a rigid assembly even when all parts of my grille are constructed of much thinner metal than that heretofore found necessary for screen-type grilles on automobiles.

If the grille is to afford a V-front effect, the perforated main portion of the front member can readily be bent about its upright central portion to the desired angle, as shown in Fig. 7, which shows a fragmentary horizontal section through a V-front grille having one of the widened upright bar-like portions F disposed at the apex of the grille front. In this case, the blade-gripping webs desirably are bent so as to extend parallel to a medial vertical plane P through the grille, so that the blades still present their flat faces at right angles to the plane of the opening across which the grille extends, and each tie-bar can be made of two halves abutting against and soldered to opposite sides of the central blade B Where the strains on the grille are likely to be unusually severe, so that the heretofore recited flatwise gripping-of flat blades might not: be adequate to resist such strains, the blades may have their forward edge portions thickened, and the webs on the front plate may be formed so as to interlock with these thickened edge portions.

Thus, Fig. 8 shows the use of a forwardly open U-sectioned blade 10 which has the forward portions 10a of its two webs spread apart so as to bear respectively against flanges 4d which converge rearwardly from the main portion of the front member.

Fig. 9 shows a blade 11 having its forward edge portion bent to form a web 12 extending at right angles to the remainder of the blade, while the adjacent part of the front member is provided with a flange 4e bearing flatwise against one side of the blade, and has a companion flange 4f hooked over the free edge of the said web 12.

Figs,'10 and 11 show the use of blades rolled to a nonrectangular cross-section, and Fig. 12 shows a blade having its forward edge portion curled to a non-circular section to fit both against both sides of the said curled portion and against the rear face of the bar-like front portion F between these webs.

So also, instead of having each blade clamped between a plurality of clips each of which consists of two Webs projecting rearwardly from the front plate, I may punch the sheet from which I form my front member so as to form only a single rearwardly extending web at one side edge of each perforation, and none at the opposite side edge, as shown in Fig. 13. Since each such single web 13 will then be twice as wide as one of the (half-perforation Width) webs or flanges 4 in Fig. 2, these webs in themselves will function as blades for the grille, as the spacings 14 between the alined flanges may be short in comparison with the Width of the webs, so that Fig. 1.3. shows a, quite simple'and cheap embodiment of my invention.

However, I may also use the single flanges :13 of-Fig. ,13qas means for supporting. blades B of any desired width, :by merely fastening each blade towa row of such alin'ed flanges in any suitablemanner, such as solder S, as shown i Fi'g. 15.;

Moreover, while I have heretofore described my grille: ,in', connection with embodiments in which the blades are upright, it will be obvious that the blades of my grille may extend horizontally or at intermediate angles, since the blade-grasping clip webs can readily be formed to extend along any two parallel edges of a perforation. For example, Fig. 18 shows a fragment of a grille in which the majority of the apertures are shaped as parallelograms 15 or modifications thereof, while other perforations 16 are triangular.

When rectangular perforations are adopted as affording the desired frontal appearance, it will also be evident from Fig. 6, that the cooperation of each row of clips 4 in supporting each blade is not affected by the length of each of these alined clips. Consequently, my invention may be employed also for grilles in which the apertures do not aline transversely of the blades, so that my grille construction lends itself to a wide variety of ornamental appearances, as shown for example in Fig. 20.

Since the front member, the blades and the tie-bars for the grille disclosed in Figs. 1 to 6 are all simple and easily assembled sheet metal punchings, the cost of my combination screen and blade-type grille is quite low, and particularly so because the assembled parts stiffen one another so that my entire grille can be constructed of quite thin metal-such as inch sheet steel. Moreover, my construction allows the front member (which affords the desired ornamental appearance) to be constructed and finished separately before the blades and the tiebars are attached to it, so that I can provide a bright and polished grille front while using a cheap and dull finish for the blades and tiebars.

For example, when the front member is made of stainless steel, while the blades and tie-bars are of a cheap grade of steel and painted after they are attached, I have found the total cost to be less than that of the heretofore used perforated sheets of cast aluminum or aluminum alloy which affords much less resistance to impact and other strains than my here presented grille. In addition to thus reducing the cost, my here presented grille also conceals the radiator core (or whatever else may be behind it) to a much greater extent than the heretofore used screen type grilles, since it will be obvious from the dotted arrow lines in Fig. 4 that the blades of my grille afford only a quite limited angle A through which anything behind it can be seen.

It should also be obvious without separate picturing that it is not necessary to have bladeengaging webs at every one of the apertures in a row parallel to a blade, since every alternate superposed web 4 in Fig. 6 (for example) could be omitted.

If additional strip-like ornamentations are desired for the grille, I can readily provide for this along any of the perforation-spacing barlike front portions which are of suitable width. Thus, Fig. 16 shows a part of a grille (which may otherwise be constructed after the manner shown in Figs. 1 to 12 or Fig; 19') havingv anornamenting ,mouldingqM attached to the bar portion, E, To facilitate this, I provide longi:

tudi-na'lly spaced parts of this. bar portion F at its opposite edges with forwardly diverging fi'ngers 18;, over which the rearwardly recurved edge flanges M ofamoulding-M- is slid as shown inFigl 1,7. i Moreover, thesimple construction. of the. aperturedZandWebbedx front member of my grille will readily permit this to be manufactured in long strips as a grille fabric from which the needed areas can afterwards be cut for use (either with attached blades, or with the webs alone functioning as blades) for use in substition for ordinary wire screens in affording a greater view-concealing effect and in presenting a more ornamental appearance.

I claim as my invention:

1. An upright grille comprising a sheet-dike front member provided with rectangular apertures arranged in both vertical and horizontal rows; upright blades supported by and extending rearwardly from the front member between adjacent vertical rows of apertures; and a tie-bar extending horizontally behind the front member behind a part of the front member which is between two consecutive horizontal rows of apertures, the tie-bar having portions thereof straddling the said blades and fastened to certain of the blades.

2. A grille as per claim 1, in which the blades and the tie-bar have relatively interengaging slotted portions presenting rearwardly open slots in the blades and forwardly open slots in the tie-bar.

3. An upright grille comprising a front member provided with rectangular apertures arranged in relatively transverse rows; blades disposed behind and presenting longitudinal edges respectively toward portions of the front member between, adjacent rows of apertures; and a tie-bar extending behind the front member transversely of the blades and fastened to the front member; the tie-bar having portions thereof engaging rearwardly facing portions of the blades, whereby the tie-bar clamps the blades against the front member.

4. An upright grille comprising in rigid assembly a sheet metal front member provided with rectangular apertures arranged in both vertical and horizontal rows, upright blades supported behind and bearing edgewise against portions of the front member between adjacent vertical rows of apertures and secured to the front member; and a tie-bar extending horizontally behind and engaging the front member and having portions thereof and in straddling engagement with the said blades.

5. A front member for a grille, comprising a sheet of metal provided with apertures disposed in rows so as to present a bar-like front portion between two adjacent rows; the said portion having pairs of fingers spaced longitudinally of that portion, with the fingers of each pair diverging forwardly transversely of the said barlike portion; and a separately formed ornamenting moulding comprising a frontal part extending longitudinally of and in front of the said bar-like portion and the said fingers, and having two rearwardly recurved edge flanges respectively engaging the rear faces of the oppositely directed fingers.

6. A front member for a grille, as per claim 5,

in which each pair of the said fingers isformed from a part of the said bar-like portion extending between two adjacent apertures which are respectively disposed in the said two adjacent I'OWS. I

'7. A front member for a grille, comprising a sheet of metal provided with apertures disposed in rows so as to present a bar-like front portion between two adjacent rows; the said portion 10 having pairs of fingers spaced longitudinally of that portion, with the fingers of each pair (iiverging forwardly transversely of the said portion; and a separately formed ornamenting moulding extending longitudinally of and in front of the said bar-like portion for concealing all of the said bar-like portion including the said fingers, the moulding having edge parts thereof in hooking engagement with thesaid fingers. Y

LEE B. GREEN. 

